Health workers get lead-test help from Flint student nurses

As Flint deals with a lead-tainted water crisis, the overworked county health department is getting help from nursing faculty and students.

Thousands of Flint parents have had their children tested at free clinics run by the Genesee County Health Department since residents became aware that their water had become contaminated with lead after the city began drawing water from the Flint River to save money.

The health department, which has a staff of about 100, says the assistance from the University of Michigan-Flint students and staff has been huge as they draw and test blood. More than 20,000 people have been tested so far.

Nursing student Mat Rowden says volunteering has shown him "the need for health care, the need for nursing, goes way outside the hospital walls."